As previously announced, the WCF Management Committee ("MC") considered the impact of the postponement of the 2021 U21 GCWC to 2022 on the eligibility of players whose 21st birthdays fall in 2021. Such players would have been eligible to play in the 2021 U21 GCWC but, applying the normal age limit, would not be eligible to play in a 2022 U21 GCWC.
Allowing any player who would have been eligible for a 2021 U21 GCWC to remain eligible for the same event in 2022 would be consistent with treating the 2021 GCWC as postponed rather cancelled. In view of the exceptional circumstances that led to the postponement, the WCF MC recommended to Council that WCF Sports Regulations paragraph 5.1.5 be temporarily amended so that players whose 21st birthdays fall in 2021 will still be eligible to play in a 2022 U21 GCWC. The Council voted by 56-0 to approve the MC recommendation.
For the avoidance of doubt, this treatment will not apply if the U21 GCWC cannot be held in 2022 after all. If that is the case, the 2021 U21 GCWC will be regarded as cancelled and the next holding of the U21 GCWC, perhaps in 2023, will be a new event and subject to the normal age limit.